In recent years, the popularity of Mexican food has seen a phenomenal increase. However, the manufacture and distribution of the shells used for these foods, in general, has not changed. Also, the nature of the shells themselves has not changed or improved to any great degree. The same problem that plaqued shells like those used for tacos are still problems today. One problem with taco shells has been their coarse, tough texture and another, their propensity to fracture upon consumption, making filled tacos lower in quality and difficult to eat. With the growth of interest in Mexican food, the desire for improved products has grown. Because of the competition between various food products, some of the more frequent or new consumers of Mexican foods find the shells less desirable or unacceptable and will either not buy the Mexican products or consume less because of other higher quality alternative foods.
To meet consumer needs, it is the object of this invention to solve the problem of the touch, coarse texture and decrease fracturing in the cooked taco shells.
By manufacturing a taco shell having a delaminated structure as hereinafter described and having a prescribed level of total plasticizer in the product after cooking, the problems with texture and fracturing can be significantly improved. The invention provides a taco shell with improved lightness and crispness and even, more importantly, tenderness and is less prone to fracture during eating.